Little Pied Cormorant

Posing at Alex Goudie Park in Drouin

The Little Pied Cormorant, Microcarbo melanoleucos (micro = small, carbo = charcoal (as in the Great Cormorant), melan = black and leucos = white) is distinguished by its pied plumage, dusky face and a yellow bill.

Little pieds are broadly distributed across Australia and are quite adaptable as they can be found on inland freshwater or coastal saltwater habitats – lakes and dams, wetlands, estuaries, etc. Although considered sedentary, Little Pied Cormorants may exhibit some local nomadism as water levels change or food availability alters.

A yabbie meal with a 'coot in pusuit for som scraps - Australian Garden Cranbourne

Essentially a fish eater, Little Pied Cormorants also take yabbies, shrimps and insects. They dive for their prey and can stay under for 30 seconds or so. Their fully webbed feet propel them strongly as they chase their prey and the bird will often surface from a dive quite a distance from where it started.

"Anyone got a hair dryer?"

Oddly for a diving bird, its plumage is not especially waterproof and much time is spent ‘drying out’ between food sorties.

Three of about ten birds at roost behind the sand dunes at Coronet Bay

Although it mostly hunts alone, the little pied is gregarious enough to roost and nest in small colonies.

While its numbers are thought to be stable, you can guess what threats to this species might include: degradation and alteration to waterways, urban development, agricultural practices, et al.

 

A few recent Odes

Few insects can match Odonata, (Damselflies and Dragonflies) for speed, manoeuverability, and beauty. Add to that their partly aquatic, extraordinary 3-stage life cycle and further, their value to the environment (they play vital ecological roles) – what’s not to like? Their only problem – some can be challenging to photograph!

Common Flatwing (Picnic Point)

The Common Flatwing breaks the rule that 'Damselflies rest with their wings closed'. The Common Flatwing is mostly found near running streams, although sometimes I’ve seen them some distance from water. They can be locally common some seasons.

Blue Skimmer (Coronet Bay)

Blue Skimmers usually inhabit still water habitats: swamps, bogs, dams, etc. This eye-catching Dragonfly often makes photographing it a bit easier: it patrols its territory and rests often and frequently on the same stick, plant or rock.

Tau Emerald (Drouin)

Tau Emeralds are large Dragonflies and strangely will often allow photographers to approach quite close before zooming off. The tau (T) marking on the frons (forehead) that is a good identifier is very clear on this individual. It is not unusual to see this Dragonfly in home gardens, especially if you have a fish/frog pond.

Swamp Tigertail (Mt Baw Baw)

Swamp Tigertails tend to inhabit swampy, boggy seepages in alpine locations.

Bronze Needle (Robin Hood)

This Damselfly also prefers running water habitat for its larvae and is usually easy to find beside streams in this district. Bronze Needles are endemic to s-e Australia.

Yellow-striped Hunter (Garfield)

Yellow-striped Hunters are small to medium-sized Dragonflies. Their eyes are on the top of their heads and separated like Damselflies. They tend to inhabit streams and rivers mostly.

 

Buff-banded Rail

Coronet Bay

The Buff-banded Rail, Gallirallus philippensis, (Gallirallus = ‘cock-rail’, philippensis = ‘Philippines, the origin of type species’), is mostly described as a cautious and secretive bird seen singly or in pairs. A recent visit to Coronet Bay contradicted that description a little when six individuals continued to scuttle across some bare ground beside a small, marshy, coastal lagoon at the back of the sand dunes.

Coronet Bay

Buff-bandeds can inhabit a variety of wetland types: marshes, swamps, lakes, rivers, coastal lagoons, estuaries, sewage ponds, drainage channels, even temporary inundations in paddocks, etc. There needs to be some dense grasses, rushes or reeds nearby for them to seek shelter when disturbed.

Often secretive

There seems to be some seasonal movements because the bird is seen from time to time in some locations, but not consistently so – not a lot is known about their movements in our district. Unlike other rails, the buff-banded has a tendency to wander a fair distance from a water body at times, resulting in them sometimes being referred to as land rails.

Robin Hood Reserve

Buff-banded Rails have a varied diet that includes crustaceans, molluscs, insects, seeds, fruit, frogs, other birds’ eggs, carrion and often picnic ground refuse. Mornings and evenings are usually when they are seen seeking food out in the open.

They call with a squeaky, harsh, ‘kreeek’ note, especially during the breeding season.

 

Daddy Long Legs

The well-named Daddy Long Legs spider is a common, well-known spider because it likes to live with us – in our homes, sheds, cars, etc.

There was a myth that its venom was powerful enough to kill a human if only the spider could get its fangs to penetrate our skin. Not so. The myth probably arose from the fact that Daddy Long Legs can kill Red Back spiders, a spider that can harm humans with its bite, therefore the Daddy Long Legs venom must be as powerful or more powerful than Red Back venom. In fact the Daddy Long Legs uses a different technique to kill and eat Red Backs – its long legs enable it from a distance to tangle the Red Back in a web. Once restrained, the Daddy Long Legs can approach and bite the Red Back multiple times to finally render it deceased! Ain’t the spider world grand?

There are around 60 species of ‘Daddy Long Legs’ spiders in Australia, some are endemic, many have been introduced, and the number of described species is being enlarged as more study is done.

Daddy Long Legs, Pholcid sp, construct a messy, irregular-shaped web in which they hang upside down waiting for their prey. Usually, they choose an undisturbed corner of our homes, such as high corners of the ceiling, roof spaces or attics, cellars (sometimes called Cellar Spiders).

They eat insects and sometimes invade the web of other spiders to eat their captured prey. They are known to eat Red Backs, Huntsman and House Spiders.

All hail, Daddy Long Legs, welcome in my place!

PS: there are plenty of videos and articles online about this spider – worth exploring.

Garden Soldier Fly

This common garden insect likes to rest on the leaves of our Bay Laurel.

Soldier Flies belong to the very large Stratiomyidae family of which world-wide there are probably 3,000 species. Although they look like a wasp, they are a fly, with only one pair of wings.

The Garden Soldier Fly (I think), Exaireta spinigera, (probably), is endemic to Australia but has been introduced to many places around the world.

Decaying organic matter, leaf litter and fallen bark are the favoured habitat for the larvae. It is assumed the food sources for the adult fly are pollen and nectar, although some references suggest the adult phase is short-lived and is focussed entirely on procreation.

Using its forelegs to clean the compound eyes …

Using the hind legs to keep the wings in good working order …

Robber Fly

Robber Flies, sometimes called Assassin Flies, belong to the Asilidae family of insects and there are many species. They are large, bristly flies (flies have just one pair of functioning wings) that are fearsome predators of other insects which they mostly capture in flight. They also prey on spiders and ants. Most Robber Fly species are distinguished by their robust build, large eyes, and a hairy ‘moustache’.

Robber Flies inhabit urban parks and gardens, woodlands, and forests – wherever there are other insects and spiders to feed on.

They capture their prey with their hairy legs and strong claws. They use their large proboscis to inject the victim with a toxin and an enzyme that dissolves its innards. After ingesting the meal, there is only the exoskeleton of the prey left behind.

Because Robber Flies often take leaf-eating and sap-sucking insects for prey, they help keep populations of these pest species under control. Some references suggest they can bite us humans if they are mishandled, but they do not seek us out like blowflies and mosquitoes.

Trigger Plant

A Grass Trigger Plant 'meadow' on the slopes of Mt Baw Baw

The Trigger Plant, or more correctly, Grass Trigger Plant, Stylidium graminifolium, is a fascinating Australian endemic plant that in our district grows on the Baw Baw Plateau, behind the sand dunes of Westernport Bay and Bass Coast, and all sorts of places in between. It seems to like gravelly-sandy soils in open woodlands and heathlands. At certain times, some locations are awash with the pink flower heads and sometimes you can fluke an occasional white one.

The most ‘fascinating’ characteristic of the Trigger Plant is the way it has evolved to achieve pollination. Under the petals of the flower is a sensitive column that has a pollen ‘club’ attached to its end. When an insect is attracted to the nectar in the throat of the flower, the column is ‘triggered’ to rapidly spring upwards and ‘club’ the insect, covering it with pollen. The insect flies on to the next flower and spreads the pollen and the process is repeated.

A further fascination of this amazing plant is that some glandular hairs under the flower can trap insects giving rise to the argument that the plant may in part be carnivorous.

Grass Trigger Plants are readily cultivated. They have a long flowering period and make a perfect wildflower addition to any native garden.

What’s not to like?